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freshwater pearl sets

Posted on 2009-Oct-26 at 04:30 - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

How do people use Bead Flowers?

Bead flowers can be used in every way you use silk or fresh flowers. The only difference is that it will be many, many years before bead flowers deteriorate. Therefore, they make ideal inserts in bridal bouquets, bridal headdresses, hair barrettes, pins, napkin rings, corsages, "potted" plants, 3D pictures and wall hangings.

A few notable people who owned and treasured examples of freshwater pearl sets this fine art were Marie Antoinette, Madame Pompadour, Napoleon's Josephine, Princess Grace, Princess Caroline, Patricia Nixon and William Randolph Hearst.

Bead flowers can be made out of many kinds and styles of beads, and beads can have a wide variety of finishes. The most common type of bead used is a seed bead, gauge 10 or 11, and used on wire of 24 or 26 gauge. I have seen very tiny flowers made with gauge 15 seed beads. The edges of the beads can be squared off or rounded, depending on silver pearl sets the artist's taste. Japanese beads are of very high quality and are very uniform. If you make bead jewelry, you may have used Toho or Miyuki beads in your jewelry and other projects. One-, two- or three-cut beads add sparkle, and trumpet beads and rhinestone centers can be used as an accent. Beads can be matte or pearly, colorlined or unlined, opaque or transparent, and the list goes on. Beads can be bought on hanks, or loose in bags and tubes.

As strange as it may seem, weather can have an effect on the availability of beads. Because of weather conditions in many parts of the world, certain colors of beads can be made only at certain times of the year. About six years ago, the fashion industry bought up all the available pink beads, and jewelrymakers and flower beaders had to use other colors until the climatic conditions changed again, production of pink beads could resume, and the supply could catch up with the demand.

History of Bead Flowers

The art of making flowers out of beads is many centuries old. Although there is very little documentation on the development of this art, research has shown that the first primitive bead flowers may have been made as early as the coral jewelry 1300's in Germany, when steel needles and wire were developed.

In the ensuing years as the craft spread across Europe, different methods were developed: the Victorian method, also known as the English or Russian method, and the French method. The main difference is that in the Victorian method, which is similar to modern bead jewelry-making techniques, the thread or wire passes through each bead twice or more, and the wire passes from row to row on the sides of the piece; in the French method, the wire passes through each bead only once, and passes from row to row in the center or on the bottom of the individual piece.

One of the reasons that flowers are associated with churches has to do with beads. In the thirteenth century a form of prayer using a string of beads was instituted by St. Dominic. The string, called a rosary, consisted at that time of 15 units of turquoise jewelry beads. Each unit contained 10 small beads, preceded by one larger one. A prayer was recited at every bead. The word "bede" (sp) is Middle English for "prayer." Because of the length of the original rosary, it became customary to pay someone, usually a resident of an almshouse, to recite the prayers. These people were referred to as bede women or men, and it was they who made the first bead flowers. The craft was handed down through the centuries and came to be associated with the church and its decorations.

The French used bead flowers as funeral wreaths. These wreaths were called "Immortelles," and ranged from 3 feet to 4 feet in height. They would be left at the grave of the deceased. Since they were made on metal wire and were exposed to the weather, most of these items were destroyed within a year, but a few examples remain today. Occasionally you will see one on Ebay. Once an Immortelle disintegrated, leaving only a pile of beads, the beads would often be recycled into other projects. Not only are there bead flowers mounted on the frame of the shell jewelry Immortelle, but the frame wires are wrapped in beaded wire as well. Wires strung with beads might have been coiled or braided as well before wrapping onto the piece. The whole surface of the Immortelle would be wrapped over with wire strung with thousands and thousands of beads.

In Venice in the 16th century, middle class and poor women made bead flowers for churches, banquet tables and parade floats. At that time, someone could walk down the streets of Venice and see women sitting outside every door, making ornaments out of wire and tiny glass beads. At one time Venice was a center for the actual production of beads. According to one source, at one point all the beadmaking activity in Venice was moved onto the island of Murano. Murano glass vases and other items are still treasured today.

Around the Napoleonic era (1768-1821), Italian and French peasants who tended the vineyards in the summer were recruited to work with beads in the winter. They would be assigned to embroider the ball gowns and jackets of the court nobility with beads. Imperfect beads or beads that would not fit over the needle were saved and made into flowers. These imperfect beads may have been strung onto wire for the flowers with horsehair or human hair. These flowers were used to shell pearl jewelry decorate church altars, and were carried by altar boys for Easter and Christmas.

In Victorian times, royal European brides often wore wreaths or circlets of bead flowers and carried bead bouquets on their wedding day. The custom was for the bride to abandon the fancy hair styles of the time, and wear her hair simply, straight down her back, and adorn her head with a floral wreath. If she were getting married at a time of gemstone jewelry the year when fresh flowers were unavailable, bead flowers were an excellent solution.

Wreaths

In response to the 9/11 tragedy, many flower beaders from around the world collaborated to make a modern-style funeral wreath for each of the three crash sites. These wreaths are now in the Pentagon, the Liberty Museum in Philadelphia, and the New York Wreath was temporarily placed in the Wheaton Museum of American Glass in Morganville, New Jersey. Recently the New York Wreath was moved to a permanent display case in a board room at the World Trade Center Museum Foundation Headquarters. The Pentagon wreath is in a large, glass wall-mounted case in a new hallway in the Pentagon. This hallway leads to a chapel commemorating those who died on 9/11.

Swarovski Project

Several years ago, when the Swarovski Crystal company was first making their line of crystal beads, they commissioned several bead flower artists to design and create the first Swarovski crystal bead flowers. The beaders adapted existing patterns and wrote new patterns to accommodate these new, larger beads. A sparkling garden of flowers was the result. This collection of flowers toured the world, and is now back at the main offices of the Swarovski company in Austria.

History of Bead Flowers in America

In 1865, Godey's Ladies Book published a flower pattern that suggests the flowers could be used as decorations for hair and clothing.

The Dritz Traum Company released the earliest U.S. pattern, in 1928. It was titled "Hiawatha New Imported Crystal Bead Models." You may recognize the Dritz name, since they still produce needles and other items.

By 1957, Samuel Wallach of the Walbead company was packaging and selling kits, "Bead a Bouquet," which included a wide variety of beaded flower instructions.

In 1965, Aleene, of Temple City, California, released what was possibly the first U.S. book of patterns, simply titled "Bead Flowers."

The art of bead flower making was popular in the U.S. in the late 1960's to early 1970's. Years 1966 through 1983 brought us a flurry of publications. These books are now considered the "bibles" of the French beader. The noted authors of these books include the highly respected Virginia Nathanson, Bobbe Anderson, Samuel Wallach, Helen Leibman, Ruth Wasley/Edith Harris and Virginia Osterland. Although these books sometimes appear in garage sales, collectors are willing to pay well in excess of $100.00 each, when they can be found.

Virginia Nathanson was a Vaudeville performer in her youth. Later on, she saw a bead flower arrangement in a department store in New York City. She wanted to discover the secret of these everlasting flowers, so she bought the arrangement, took it home, and took each flower completely apart. By this rather drastic forensic method, she learned the four basic techniques of French bead flower making.

Mrs. Nathanson's first book, "The Art of Making Bead Flowers and Bouquets," is now in reprint in softcover. The instructions in this book are very clear, and this is an excellent book for the beginner.

In the late 60's and early 70's, most of the seed beads sold in America were imported from Czechoslovakia. With the last phase of the Cold War, around the late 1980's, Czech beads were difficult to find, and popularity for the craft diminished.

In 1991 Helen McCall produced a book dedicated entirely to miniatures, and in 1995, Leisure Arts produced a few patterns, in an ornament book. Still, the art seemed to be fading away, in the United States.

Then, the late 1990's saw a dramatic interest in beaded flowers around the world. Books were published in Japanese, French, Italian, Russian, German, and Dutch. Although some of the styles "cross over," most of these books use the Victorian technique.

In the last several years, Mario Rivoli bought up many vintage bead flowers and spray-painted them to create astonishing effects on the flowers. These beads are often seen in shops in New York City, and in magazines and on the Internet.

With the start of the new millennium, the United States has shown a renewed interest in French beaded flowers. Magazines are describing the art as "what's hot" and French-style pattern books are once again appearing.

Quality beads are now available from many sources. The Internet is making the books and materials available to all beaders, regardless of their location. Many of the books are available from Amazon, and wire, beads and other supplies can be found online at very reasonable prices.

The art of bead flower-making is very old, but is new all over again!

Sources

Jonalee Crabb

Sharon R. May, Scouting Out the Bead

Virginia Nathanson, The Art of Making Bead Flowers and Bouquets

Wasley and Harris, Bead Design

Walbead

Godey's Ladies Book

Dritz Traum Company, Hiawatha New Imported Crystal Bead Models

Samuel Wallach, Bead A Bouquet

Aleene, Bead Flowers

Lark Books, 500 Beaded Objects

Dalene Kelly, Bead Flowers For The New Millennium

Carol Benner Doelp

multi strand necklace

Posted on 2009-Oct-26 at 04:29 - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

A Diamond appraisal is basically a clinical process that is 75% objective and scientific, and 25% subjective, being based on personal judgment. That is because three of the four criteria used by diamond dealers to evaluate stones prior to multi strand necklace purchasing from diamond wholesalers are based on measurements; carat, or mass and weight, color and clarity, whereas the fourth criterion is cut. This is important; certified loose diamonds that are cut properly are worth far more than those that are not.

In short, diamond appraisal is a somewhat dry and academic exercise in which a dollar value is placed on a stone that throughout history has been surrounded by fabulous legends and to which has been attributed mystical and even supernatural qualities. When dealing with diamond wholesalers, it is good to know the business end of matters and know that what you are purchasing are certified loose diamonds that have been subject to a multi strand pearl necklace thorough diamond appraisal; however, one should not lose sight of the romance and mystery that surrounds these rare and valuable gems.

The Most Famous of Them All

When it comes to mystery and legend, the Hope Diamond tops them all. It is not the largest diamond ever cut, but has had one of the most convoluted and lengthy histories of any diamond in existence.

Like most certified loose diamonds, the Hope Diamond was cut from a larger crystal, which in this case was the Tavenier Blue, a crudely-cut stone that was allegedly mined in the legendary Golconda region of India and stolen from a statue of the Hindu goddess Seeta.

The Tavenier Blue came into possession of pearl jewelry a French traveler by the same name in 1660, and eventually became part of the French Crown Jewels. This diamond was stolen during the French Revolution in 1792. The Hope Diamond, which was cut from the Tavenier Blue, surfaced in England in 1812. It eventually wound up in the collection of one Henry Philip Hope in 1824. The diamond came to the U.S. when a Hope descendant, Francis Hope, married an American actress named May Yohe in 1894. It changed hands several times over the next sixty years before New York diamond dealer Henry Winston donated it to the Smithsonian Institution, where it remains on display.

freshwater pearl necklace

Posted on 2009-Oct-26 at 04:27 - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

Glass cat figurines can range from ordinary glass that is very inexpensive but will delight the person to whom you give the figure to more expensive crystal cat figurines. Cut glass can look a lot like crystal, but it does not have the same amount of lead in the freshwater pearl necklace glass. When you are buying figurines, make sure that you know the difference between crystal and glass.

If you are buying online, you can get them in different colors and styles. They can be short cats or elongated cats in multitudes of colors. If you know someone who likes cats, this can be a great gift. You do not have to spend a lot of money. You can spend somewhere around a dollar or so for an ordinary glass cat figure to a few hundred dollars for freshwater pearl bracelet a Baccarat or a Lalique glass cat figure. The difference is between the glass. Baccarat and Lalique are crystal and other glass is merely cut glass.

The fact that the figurines are not expensive will not make them less prized among those who collect them. Those who collect these will like just about any type of cat figure that you can get them. You can get them whimsical colored glass cat figurines that they will enjoy having.. These are nice novelties.

Some glass cat figurines are heavy and almost feel as though they are crystal. They are usually not diamond cut like versions which tend to freshwater pearl pendant have sharp edges. They may just be very solid and heavy glass. Or, on the other hand, they can be very light weight glass. There is so much from which to choose when shopping online.

Make the distinction between glass cat figurines and glass cat statues. Cat statues are generally large - larger than a foot high. Figurines are usually less than a foot high and are often kept in a curio cabinet to protect them from dust and breakage.

Glass cat figurines can be a gift that just about anyone who collects cats will like and can be found at a variety of outlets. You can find them in shops around your town, jewelry shops and even discount stores. But no where else will you get a better price for freshwater pearl earrings glass cat figurines than online. It just seems that you can get the best deals when it comes to shopping online than if you go to a retail shop.,

When looking for used glass figurines, make sure that there are no chips or marks on the item or else it greatly diminishes its worth.

freshwater pearl jewelry

Posted on 2009-Oct-26 at 04:24 - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

The Argyle Diamond Mine is located in a remote corner of North West Australia and it produces over 90 percent of the world supply of freshwater pearl jewelry pink diamonds and yet less that 1/10 of 1 percent is classified as Pink in color.

The pink diamonds comes in shades ranging from a pastel rose, such as the Pink Orchid to intense purple-reds of the Moussaieff Red, and the price is determined by the intensity of the color. Pink diamonds have sold for up to $1,000,000 a carat. Unlike the Type I diamonds that derived their color from impurities imbedded in the diamond, Pink diamonds are considered a Type II and get their color from a cultured pearl jewelry process known as Plastic Deformation.

Type II diamonds have very few if any nitrogen impurities in them. They get their coloration due to structural anomalies caused by Plastic Deformation during the crystal growth. The intense pressure changes the lattice structure of diamonds and has led to the formation of Pink, Red, and Brown colored diamonds.

Only 1 out of the top 66 largest diamonds in the world is pink. When Ben Affleck gave Jennifer Lopez a pink diamond solitaire engagement ring, traffic to freshwater pearl necklace web sites that had pink diamonds increased from 300 to 400 percent. Although not normally large in size they have become very popular and over the years many have become world famous.

Pink Panther

Probably the most famous pink diamond in the world was the Pink Panther Diamond that was made famous by the 1964 file release of The Pink Panther. Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau was on the trail of the jewel thief also known as The Pink Panther.

Darya-I-Nur

Darya-I-Nur diamond is believed to be the freshwater pearl bracelets largest pink diamond in the world. The stone is estimated to weigh somewhere between 175 and 195 carats, and it is a light pink color. Its exact weight isn't known because its been mounted in its brooch setting for over 130 years. This stone is one of the most celebrated diamonds in the Iranian Crown Jewels and it is also one of the oldest stones known to man.

Steinmetz Pink

The Steinmetz Pink Diamond is classified as a vivid pink and is 59.60 carats in weight. This diamond was discovered in South Africa and is the largest Fancy Vivid Pink diamond in the world. This fantastic diamond was first shown to freshwater pearl earrings the public in 2003 in M onaco. A team of eight jewelers took 20 months to create this Internally Flawless diamond. They created over 50 models before cutting on the real diamond began.

With the new techniques in creating laboratory diamonds it will only be a matter of time before quality pink diamonds are available to the general public at an affordable price.

Baucus acknowledges the

Posted on 2009-Sep-20 at 11:09 - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

 Baucus acknowledges the criticism he is getting from within his own party. "My assumption is, the other person's view probably has more than a grain of truth," he says. The chairman told TIME.com that he hopes to iron out some of those differences inflatable in the coming days. Specifically, Baucus is talking to Democratic members of his committee about addressing one of their chief complaints about the bill — that it won't do enough to make insurance affordable for the middle class. That's a crucial question, because the legislation would, for the first time, impose a requirement that virtually everyone have some kind of coverage or face a fine. Under Baucus' bill, the government would provide subsidies to help those earning up to three times the poverty level (in other words, a family of four making as much as $66,000 a year) buy insurance as well as set caps on their out-of-pocket expenses. (See 10 players in health-care reform.)

But many of his fellow Democrats say that help doesn't go far enough — especially in comparison with the version that the House is working on, which inflatable bouncer would provide assistance to those earning up to 400% of the poverty level (or a family of four making up to $88,000). "We're working to address that concern," Baucus said, adding that one idea "very much on the table" is to increase the refundable tax credits for those purchasing insurance. That, however, would most likely increase the overall price tag for the measure, which in its current form would cost $774 billion over the next decade, according to estimates by the Congressional Budget Office.

Baucus expressed some flexibility with regard to his proposal to impose a 35% excise tax on insurers who sell "gold-plated" insurance policies — a levy  inflatable slides insurance companies say they would be forced to pass on to their customers. Under the bill as it is currently written, that tax would kick in on plans that cost more than $8,000 for individuals and $21,000 for families. Health-policy experts say an excise tax could help curb health spending overall by discouraging the purchase of lavish plans that lead to overuse of the health-care system. The levy would also raise $215 billion over the next decade — or about one-quarter of the cost of the bill.

But one place where

Posted on 2009-Sep-20 at 11:06 - 0 Comments - Post Comment - Link

 The bill's critics, however, say the taxes would probably be borne by many middle-income people, especially municipal employees and unionized workers in states where insurance costs are high. What's more, if health-insurance costs continue to rise as they have, the tax would catch more and more insurance plans. In the interview on Thursday inflatable evening, Sept. 17, Baucus sounded sympathetic to those kinds of concerns and hinted that the threshold for taxation is likely to be raised. "Union plans are very expensive, and we have to be respectful of that," Baucus said.

But one place where Baucus does not appear to be so flexible is on the question of adding a government-run public option to the measure as an alternative for providing coverage to the uninsured. While some liberals in the Senate have gone so far as to say they will not vote for a bill that does not include a public option, Baucus said it would not pass on the Senate floor. He said, however, that one "live possibility" is the idea of adding a so-called trigger that would create a public plan if private insurance companies fail to do enough inflatable castles to bring down costs and make coverage available to enough Americans. That is an idea that has been proposed by, among others, Maine Republican Olympia Snowe, who is the only Finance Committee Republican considered likely to vote for the bill. The current version of the bill provides only for nonprofit, member-owned cooperatives as an alternative to private insurance companies.

Holding his party together has become all the inflatable slides more important as the prospects for winning Republican support have become fainter and fainter. Baucus noted that even Charles Grassley, his good friend and the ranking Republican on his committee, is "under intense pressure from his side of the aisle to withdraw from the process" after months of bipartisan talks. Nonetheless, Baucus says, "I still think there'll be some Republican support at the end of the day." Say this for Max Baucus: he's not one to give up easily.